NBC Montana
network of western Montana NBC affiliates
NBC Montana is a regional network of three television stations in western Montana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. It is headquartered in Missoula and serves as the NBC affiliate for the Missoula and Butte markets.
The network comprises flagship KECI-TV (channel 13) in Missoula; full-power satellites KTVM-TV (channel 6) in Butte and KCFW-TV (channel 9) in Kalispell; and low-power satellite KDBZ-CD (channel 6) in Bozeman. Most network operations, including news production, are based at KECI's studios on West Main Street in Missoula, with bureaus on Old Milwaukee Drive in Bozeman and First Avenue in Kalispell. The stations air the same programming, but KTVM and KCFW air separate commercials and legal identifications. KDBZ is a straight simulcast of KTVM. NBC Montana's reach is further extended by 25 translators in western Montana and Idaho.
The main station, KECI, began broadcasting in 1954 as KGVO-TV. Regional coverage became a reality in the 1960s with the installation of transmitters in Butte and Kalispell. The stations have been sole NBC affiliates since 1989. Sinclair purchased the group in 2017 as part of its acquisition of Bonten Media Group.
History
Early years
On March 11, 1953, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted Mosby's Incorporated, owner of KGVO (1290 AM) in Missoula, a construction permit for a new television station on channel 13 in Missoula.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14704581. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 1989, 2017 and 1953.
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This entry incorporates text from “NBC Montana” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.